Environment & Science

On Monday, Republican Senator Steve Daines joined three other Republicans in releasing draft legislation they say would reverse the so-called Cottonwood decision. Both Daines and his Democratic counterpart, Jon Tester, see it as one way to prevent wildfires, but it’s much bigger than that.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended a new national monument at Badger-Two Medicine. While the Blackfeet Nation says the proposal is a good start, they’re also hesitant to fully embrace it before having a say in how the proposed monument is managed.

Editor's Note: Some stories are best experienced via audio, and this is one of them.

Every fall, thousands of birds of prey migrate over Gallatin County. And while most people never notice them, two so-called “hawk watchers” do. They sit on top of the Bridger Mountains for days counting raptors and trying to better understand how they’re impacted by people.

Montana and Wyoming would be the perfect laboratories to test carbon capture technologies, that’s according to speakers talking about the subject at a forum in Billings, including Montana Governor Steve Bullock.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the court ruling doesn't require the U.S. Forest Service to update their forest management plan, but to review it and then potentially create a new one. A previous version said "the U.S. Forest Service needs to draw up a new management plan for 12 million acres of critical Canada Lynx habitat." Yellowstone Public Radio regrets the error.

Montana’s senators are trying to reverse a controversial federal court case out of Bozeman they say is partly to blame for the state’s devastating wildfires. But some environmentalists say it’s actually an assault on the Endangered Species Act.